Does anybody have any photos of the low-floor Scania N series buses that Volgren have been delivering since 2015 for Melbourne airport, both for the long-term carpark shuttle and (I believe) other Skybus services? I need to see nearside (that is, showing the doors) photos and interior photos showing the floor at the rear in particular. TIA.

Evening tony.There are 11 Scania/Volgren buses that are owned by the Melbourne Airport Corporation and operated by Skybus on almost exclusively the Long term carpark shuttle.They are painted in a very distinctive orange livery ,but a number unfortunately wear the AOA disease.I haven't been in one,but from the outside they are pretty stock standard Volgren 2 door low floor buses,excepting a 29 seater capacity with large luggage storage area.They can carry very high loadings at times with standing loads a regular feature.Next time I am at the Airport I'll do a round trip in one to check out the interior.

The fact that they're low floor rather than just low-entry is an achievement, considering they're basically standee buses. At least you've confirmed that they don't have three doors like the Carbridge buses at Sydney airport - but the latter have steps and high floor at the rear! Trying to get the perfect bus is like pushing rocks uphill.

Mercedes wrote:Most companies buy their perfect bus given most stick with the same layout, bodies and chassis manufacturers with every order.

The problem is that it might be perfect for them but not perfect for its actual purpose and functionality as a public transport vehicle.

Like it or not, both current State and Federal governments are designing services and specifying vehicles to get the highest number of people on seats (NOT standing). Speaking to almost every chassis manufacturer within the industry, given the operating conditions and government requirements, low entry chassis will always win over the "European" full low floor because it best satisfys the criteria set by government. You will find most of the travelling public would prefer a seat rather than stand, and remembering the stringent design criteria in Australia, low floor chassis, regardless of manufacturer can not be simply adjusted to offer the same level of seat capacity. You also fail to realise that most operators have no choice but to spec there buses as per the requirements and current funding does not make it practical nor affordable for them to consider such a miniscure change. Operation, route design and commute times must always be considered first.

Whilst I acknowledge that such vehicles may be needed on high turnover routes, the industry has a solution that works perfectly well in nearly all cases; articulated, double decker and 14.5 metre vehicles. If these vehicles didn't work then for a fact governments and manufacturers alike wouldn't continue to buy and/or supply them. Opinion or no opinion, at the end of the day if a bus can provide a low floor section that offers multiple wheelchair spaces and a few priority seats for elderly or disabled persons, then it does what it was designed to do and caters for the majority of the Australian population.

I guess this is a photo thread and I'm waiting for some photos, so I don't want to burden the thread with discussion, but you're wrong to conflate the issue of fully low floor (that is low gangway) with the issue of seating. Seating numbers are not affected by whether the gangway is low or high but standing passengers, internal movement, even passenger distribution and maximisation of passenger loads sure as hell are. I see it all the time in the cities (which is most of them) where they don't have trams to do the heavy lifting work. You have trams in Melbourne and buses are the third tier so I don't imagine Melbourne operators would have to confront these issues very much by comparison with some other Australian cities. However it looks like Skybus faces these issues which is why I'm wanting to see internal photos.

By the way, theEurope/Australia comparison isn't so clear cut. While their low floor buses do tend to be biased towards standees (heavy, high turnover inner urban work), there are some surprises like the 5 door SOR NB18 artic that has virtually as many seats (about 50) as the 3 door Volvo artics we see in Australia. They have some clever design over there as well as different regulations. My interest is in buses that can do the work of trams in every respect, in the context of rapidly-growing city populations, and the local bus industry isn't so far providing the engineering solutions for this.

PS Just noticed your signature - Adelaide! Doesn't Adelaide have some single leaf doors and doors with steps in high floor sections? No, it's Perth that sets the highest standards for citybuses in Australia.